Viva Christo Rey!; Long live Christ the King! With these words, Blessed Miguel Pro was martyred in 1927 Only 2 years after Pope Pius XIII established

Transcription

1 Viva Christo Rey!; Long live Christ the King! With these words, Blessed Miguel Pro was martyred in 1927 Only 2 years after Pope Pius XIII established this feast in 1925 This feast brings our year to a close It tells us something that is important Christ reigns not by force He is enthroned on a cross His body broken and bloodied, barely able to speak His final message is one of forgiveness, love and mercy This is our king, who does not encourage us to avoid our cross But to embrace it and follow him It is not a feast of Christ the president The Prime Minister or General Secretary Although we do not have a monarchy here We know what a monarchy is The king is not one that is elected They are either born into that role Or they take the role by force The average length of a monarchy over the years is less than 10 years Christ is indeed born into the role of king Not of human descent But of divine descent 1

2 And he took the position by force Through his passion, death and resurrection And his is a kingdom that will not end There is something else we see in countries that have a monarchy Although the king is not what they once were Much of their power has been reduced Many are not much more than a figurehead The people love their king and queen They love what he represents The glory and prestige of the past It is more than what their nation was or is It is about what their nation could be What it should be Christ the King is all of this and more We are his subjects by faith and nature We have a king who has won the undying love of his subjects By dying for us And rising for us His is a kingdom of truth and justice A kingdom of love and mercy It is the spiritual foundation for any government in the world His kingdom is not of this world 2

3 Because this world could never contain him It did not originate here And it will not end when this world ends But it is in the world He has a role to play in the history of the world We have our place in the history of the world He came into the world to testify to the truth This is the foundation of his kingdom And that is a threat to the powers of the world Both religious and political In the past, the present and the future We see all this in our readings today The reading from Daniel speaks to us still today The terrorist attacks The brutality of dictators Corruption in politics Cultural confusion of the world These things affected the Jewish people of Daniel s time And they affect us today One night Daniel experienced a vision Beasts rising from the earth, representing kingdoms of the world A lion, a bear, a leopard, and one that defied description 3

4 Each one ravaging the world for a time Then another Not a kingdom, but a man coming from heaven One like a Son of Man He was given final authority, power and glory We know him as King of Kings and Lord of lords Jesus Christ The Greek empire, the Roman Empire The Aztec empire, the Ottoman Empire One day perhaps the American experiment we all love Gone But Jesus Christ remains His Kingdom is the only one that will not end The reading from Revelation describes his return Every eye shall see him All people will lament Sin is a worldwide human aspect of life It does not belong to one culture or time Abuse, slander, theft, fornication, murder These are universal These are what nailed Christ to the cross His redemption is universal 4

5 He died and rose for all people for all time From Adam and Eve to the last one born before he returns All the military muscle and the economic powers All the philosophies and religious off-shoots are powerless None of these combined can produce the healing The forgiveness that flow from Christ s passion and resurrection The very thing that is present in each and every Mass And this is sacrifice of Christ is personal He did not come to save mankind He did not come to be a generic king He came to save you And he desires to be your king My king His kingdom is not off on some planet in outer space We enter his kingdom through our baptism We grow and mature in this kingdom through the sacraments The Eucharist, Penance and Confirmation Marriage, Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick Through the sacraments we have spiritual strength and moral power To bring us through this world into the next His mercy frees each of us from our sin His kingdom is a personal kingdom 5

6 It is there for all human beings to embrace His kingdom is not of the world But it is in the world Living in his kingdom builds a better world His is a kingdom of true freedom Lived in service to what is good and just Exercising this freedom affects others But more importantly, it affects us When we live our freedom well The world is a better place St Jose Maria Escriva put it this way: Your task as a Christian citizen Is to help see Christ s life and freedom preside over all aspects of modern life Culture, the economy, work and rest Family life and social relations If Christ is truly our king No part of our life None of it Not sports or hunting Not philosophy or theology Not the environment or culture 6

7 Nothing separates us from our king If He is truly our king We strive to build his kingdom on earth While we wait for his return to complete it We do this by living the corporeal and spiritual works of mercy Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and admonishing sinners Forgiving offenses, bearing wrongs and praying for the living and dead Doing all of these and more, bit by bit A little each day Beginning with our family, our parish and our town We will radically change our church and the world Viva Christo Rey! 7